258 



INDIAN AND OTHER 



time to time appear, among the nations prone to error, and 

 enslaved by their caprices, they shut their ears against the 

 truth, and cover their eyes that they may not see its fascinating 

 splendour ; so the superstitious worship which the Peruvians 

 paid to a creature, did not suffer any abatement. 



If, however, we pay attention to the beauty and beneficial 

 influence of that planet, we may find certain reasons which 

 render this error in some measure excusable ; since, in dif- 

 fusing its light over the earth, it gladdens the spirits ; invigo- 

 rates and vivifies bodies ; produces flowers grateful to the eye 

 and smell ; covers the meadows with salutary herbs ; ripens 

 the swelling blades of Ceres ; and matures the fruits of Po- 

 mona. But the gratification which arises from these reflexions, 

 is denied to those who place their hope in inanimate images ; 

 who regard as deities the artificial works of man ; who wor- 

 ship statues of gold and silver ; and who adore the effigies of 

 animals, and the useless stone wrought by an unskilful hand. 



Such were the obje6ts of the veneration of the bulk of the 

 people. Not content with adoring the god of their conquerors, 

 they undertook to find a deity in every situation, under every 

 necessity, and for every ministry. From each diredlion they 

 bent their steps to the /luacas, or pagan temples, where they 

 sacrificed to their idols, making libations of chicha*, offering 

 up cuyes-]; and coca\^ and exhaling in vapours,* or consuming 

 in the fire, the aromatics they presented to them. Conceiving 



* The fermented liquor of maize, 

 f Wild rabbits. 



\ A nutritive and Invigorating herb, similar to the betel of the East Indies, and 

 applied to the same purposes. 



that 



